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November 2014

10 Firefox Productivity Tips and Tools

As a long time Firefox user I have come to love the options to customize the browser as well as the functionality that it offers and its add-on developers.

While it is fine to use Firefox as it comes by default, you will never reach the browser's full potential.

Little tweaks and add-ons can improve how you work with Firefox significantly so that you save time by optimizing workflows.

Move or copy files from different folders using nothing but Windows Explorer

When it comes to moving or copying files on Windows, users of the operating system have plenty of options to do just that. From being old school and using the command line to using Windows Explorer or third-party programs that ship with extra features that make the operation more comfortable.

There are plenty of dual-pane file explorers available for example that let you move and copy files without having to juggle around with different Explorer windows to get the job done.

Otter Browser Beta 3 brings sidebar and other improvements

When Norwegian company Opera Software announced the retirement of the company's own Presto engine in favor of WebKit and shortly thereafter Blink, some users of the browser decided to take matters in their own hands and create a spiritual successor of the Opera browser.

The core reason for the decision was that the new official version of Opera lacked several of the features that set the old Opera apart from other browsers.

Microsoft launches cross-platform remote Internet Explorer application

Developers who want to optimize their websites for all web browsers need to get their hands on various browsers to do so. One of the issues that devs run into regularly is platform restrictions when it comes to browsers.

Safari seems to only be available on Mac these days while Internet Explorer only on Windows. As far as Microsoft's Internet Explorer is concerned, it is also limited to specific versions of Windows.

Organize your Windows desktop with Nimi Places

I try to keep the desktop of my Windows PC as clean as possible. What I mean by that is that I try to avoid adding shortcuts or files to it.

I know enough users on the other hand who save downloads and new files they create on the system to the desktop by default.

The result is a messy desktop full of icons and shortcuts. While some users may not mind, it is difficult to keep it organized, especially if new files and shortcuts are added regularly on top of all the items that are already on it.

There are two main methods of dealing with the issue.

The Windows Task Manager (Core Windows Tools)

The Windows Task Manager is one of the core programs that ships with every version of the Windows operating system.

Designed to provide users with an overview of what is running and happening on the system, it is considered an advanced tool by many.

The Task Manager is more or less identical on Windows 7 and earlier versions of Windows while it has changed in Windows 8 and newer versions.

So how do you start the Task Manager on your system?

Massive Benchmark highlights asm.js performance of web browsers

Performance or more precisely JavaScript performance has been a thing in the browser world ever since Google launched its Chrome browser to the public.

Back then Chrome was without doubt the most optimized browser when it came to the execution of JavaScript. This was a wake-up call for Mozilla and Microsoft as they started to improve the JavaScript performance and overall snappiness of their browsers as well in order to compete with Google.

Play classic games at Archive.org’s Console Living Room and Internet Arcade

If you want to play classic console games you have two major options. You can buy old systems on flee markets, garage sales or online on eBay or Craigslist, or use emulation.

The advantage of emulation is that you can get started right away without spending lots of money on retro systems that have seen an incredible sure in pricing in past years.

Archive.org, the Internet Archive that seems to grab anything it can that is publicly available on the Internet to preserve it, has been offering Tosec compilations for currently 190 classic home console systems for some time now.

BeeDoctor is an all-in-one system maintenance and security tool for Windows

So-called all-in-one tools such as Advanced System Care, Slim Cleaner or Glary Utilities are highly popular on Windows thanks to the immense set of programs they ship with.

These tools are usually not as good as specialized programs though but much of the appeal comes from the fact that you only need to deal with a single program to take care of security issues, junk files and repairs among other things.

Reddit News is an advanced Reddit client for Android

There is a lot to like about Reddit, the massive online community that rose to fame after Digg and other sites took a dive.

Regardless of whether you like to visit the site for its picture forums, main discussion forums or personal interest forums, it seems to offer something for everyone.

There are countless Reddit clients available for mobile devices so that you can take Reddit with you wherever you go provided that Internet access is available at that location.